Disney appointed Karandeep Anand, former CEO of AI chatbot startup Character.AI, as its first chief technology officer, reporting to CEO Josh D'Amaro. Anand, who previously held leadership roles at Meta, Brex, and Microsoft, will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, and AI platforms across Disney's segments. The hire reflects D'Amaro's push to position Disney as a tech-forward company and strengthen fan engagement through digital platforms.
The FCC approved allowing foreign entities to hold up to 49.5% equity in Paramount after its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, backed by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. The commission determined the foreign investors pose no national security risk since they will not own voting stock, which will remain with the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners. The merger faces an ongoing antitrust lawsuit scheduled for trial in March.
Bill Skarsgård will star in the lead role of Hideo Kojima's upcoming action-espionage video game 'Physint,' which Xbox will now publish after PlayStation withdrew support. Kojima described the game as the culmination of his 40-year career, and Xbox and Kojima Productions plan to collaborate beyond games into film and television.